The first thing that came to mind when hearing the effusive words of our Commander -who with vehemence expressed to the entire world our commitment as an organization to move from a clandestine guerrilla, to a legal political movement- was the memory of those who have died in the path, our comrades that are currently still in prison, the bombardments that at the moment extinguished our yearnings, but from whose explosions of death somehow revived our hopes to continue; to our minds also came the breaches on part of the Government. A trance of great joy for peace and also of many expectations.

The lay down of weapons was transversal to each member of the FARC-EP, and why wouldn’t it be, a piece of our soul was leaving and hopefully forever; it was a unique and transcendental event in the guerrilla: the rifle was for many years our extension of life in defense of ours and of our companions and our families. They forced us to take them, and after thousands of victims of this war, the equation has changed after having signed the peace agreements, which offers us a comprehensive reincorporation in accordance to our interests. It is the achievement of objectives that for many years were sown in the underground and that seek a dignified, fair and equitable Colombia.

In the FARC-EP we never imagined that an agreement with the State would be easy. It is true, there are agreements, but they are not a revolution, nor they are socialism or much less the conquest of communism, NO, the agreements are a small open window and a political space, which we can use, NOT just the FARC-EP, but the whole of the people, and turn it into a powerful possibility of substantial and structural changes in Colombian life.

We cannot deny our progress in all aspects. We cannot say that we are now in a worst condition than 10 years ago based on our goals of the construction of a New Colombia. We have enormous political challenges that will not be easy and that require a lot of responsibility, honesty, political maturity, initiative, ethics, ideological formation and a sense of belonging.

Weapons are not an objective in themselves within the FARC-EP, they were means that allowed us to resist, advance, and organize a part of the population that always accompanied us regardless of the conditions of the struggle. And they, the weapons along with our ideas, took us to the peace talks, that's why the weapons were part of our political project and they were a support for our just reasons and a way to survive.

Now we have left them as a product of the Peace Agreements, in which we will reincorporate to civilian life in a comprehensive manner, and our militancy and organization will move to open and legal political activity. As Pastor Alape said, "The FARC-EP is not afraid of anything in politics".

We will build New Colombia with the people. The time has come for us, the everyday citizen. Go ahead and fight for the fulfillment of the agreements and their effective and prompt implementation. The political pulse will continue, the force for peace will continue to grow and a great convergence will make our country gracious and sovereign.